


It's Overdue, Make Your Move

by thegoodthebadandthenerdy



Series: Femslash Feb 2018 [5]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February 2018, Fluff, Mutual Pining, lifeguard AU, reyna is a lifeguard and god bless amirite, theyre just regular college kids in this one yall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-13 23:50:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13581555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegoodthebadandthenerdy/pseuds/thegoodthebadandthenerdy
Summary: Rachel had been to plenty of kids' birthday parties, but this time she failed to factor in who would be in attendance.Femslash Feb Day 5: "Pool"





	It's Overdue, Make Your Move

**Author's Note:**

> im back on my reychel train, toot toot 
> 
> title from stuck by the aces

"Perce, have you seen my sunglasses?" 

Percy raised an eyebrow. "You all right?"

Rachel turned from where she was shuffling through her oversized purse, her own eyebrow quirked. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

"They're on your head, Rach."

Her hands scrambled up to the crown of her head, where, horn-rimmed glasses poked at the pads of her fingers mockingly. She held her hands there, in the bundle of red curls she'd tied up twenty minutes before, and exhaled with a deep, unwavering shame.

"You wanna talk about it?" he asked in a lilting, borderline sing-song voice.

"There's no 'it' to talk about."

Actually, there was plenty of 'it' to talk about. 

"Mmm," he hummed. "Gotcha."

Just because she was slightly off her game didn't mean she was out of it enough not to smack his arm for that. "Let's just go," she huffed good-naturdely.

He grinned easily, pushing at the thick waves of his hair one last time while he still had the rearview mirror, before tugging the keys from the ignition and clambering out of the car.

His key ring jingled as he shoved it into the pocket of her purse before she could say no, full of keys that Rachel had no idea how he'd accumulated, and keyrings that she didn't particularly _want_ to know how he'd amassed.

She popped her sunglasses down over her eyes, inhaling deeply through her nose and exhaling quietly through her teeth.

Sunscreen weighted the expanses of her exposed skin - legs and arms and face and neck - keeping her centered, grounded. She could do this.

"Hey," Percy said, snapping from her from her inner monologue. "You know I'll have your back always and forever, right?"

She softened at that. "Thanks, Perce."

Seemingly satsified, he swung the gate open, letting her pass through before he tugged it behind them, effectively closing them in.

Children darted past, holding party favors and water guns and smushed, messy food.

The crystalline blue of the pool's water sparkled fifteen feet away, soft white seeming to shade the already twirling surface.

" _Percy_!" came a terrifyingly high screech, before a flying mass collided with Percy's leg. His smile bloomed even brighter as he hauled what Rachel now realized was his sister into his arms.

"Hey!" he greeted enthusiastically. "Happy birthday!"

She giggled, brushing her dripping curls back from her eyes. "Thanks, Percy," she replied, even though Rachel knew they'd probably already gone through that exact exchange two or twelve times that day.

"Rachel!" Phoebe hollered, clambering from Percy's protective hold to Rachel's newly outstretched arms.

"Hey, birthday girl," Rachel said, hugging the girl fiercely. "You having fun?"

"Mhm! Jason and I had an arm wrestling contest and I won so now I'm the queen of arm wrestling-" for the full effect, she tensed her small arm - face unwittingly following suit.

"Heck yeah! That's awesome," Rachel grinned, holding her hand up for a high-five, which she received with Percy levels of enthusiasm.

"Thanks," Phoebe said bashfully, wrapping her arms around Rachel's neck and squeezing before shimmying her way down and bolting off once more.

"That girl's wild," Rachel commented, "And I love her to death for it."

Percy's grin softened into a smile as he watched his little sister hold one of her friend's at foam sword point. "She's pretty fu-freaking great, huh?" he asked idly, before coming to. "All right, I've gotta make the rounds, but that doesn't mean you have to. I'll find you in a bit?"

"You know where I'll be," she replied as she kissed his cheek, her sandals clipping and clopping as she set off across the baking concrete.

She reached the other side after being stopped by no less than three teens, a child, and Sally Jackson, known goddess among men.

Stepping in front of the sun, Rachel rested in place, waiting for the boy in front of her to take notice.

"If you get sunburn for your dramatics I'm absolutely going to laugh while it heals," he said blandly, squinting against the sun to look up at her, a slow smile creeping onto his face. "C'mon," he added, patting the space beside him.

"Someone's pissy," she smiled, plopping down beside him where he was speedreading his page in his book so he could fully engage with her.

"One of Phoebe's friends threw up on my shoes, so," he shrugged and wiggled his toes. "It's been a day."

"Neeks, buddy, that's terrible," she said, trying very hard to sympathize and not, y'know, bust into a fit of laughter.

"Hazel said she'd grab me a new pair before she left the house, but she's stuck in traffic, so I'm stuck in hell," he replied, finally closing his book and turning toward her. "How's your day, then?"

"I've gone through three whole emotions today: art sucks, life sucks because art sucks, art isn't that bad after all."

He snorted, pushing his hair off of his forehead. "Portrait?" he asked knowingly.

" _Yep,_ " she hissed. "Yep, yep, yep. It's also a large part of my grade, but no biggie."

"Oh, well in that case, no pressure," he said, levelling her with a gaze that said, _I feel your pain on a spiritual level_ and _school really sucks sometimes, huh?_ , which both happened to be emotions she was admiring at the moment.

"All right, we can't be the depressing corner at a six year old's birthday party, tell me something good: did you finally talk to that boy?" she finally sighed after a well-deserved moment of soaking in both of the aforementioned emotions.

"Actually, yeah, I did. Turns out he was a total asshole, but the cute blond who happened to be behind us when I did so was _not_ of the asshole-ish disposition and I've got a date on Friday."

"Hell yeah, dude, that's what I'm talking about!" she exclaimed before realizing she'd shouted a no-no in the middle of a bunch of kids.

"Yeah," he replied, trying to repress his smile, but failing spectacularly, what with the dimple grinning from his chin and all. "We've, uh, been texting all week. His name's Will, he seems pretty cool, so," he shrugged again. "How about you? Still being hopeless over Reyna, or what?"

"Would you keep your voice down?" she yelped as a shit-eating grin sprouted on Nico's face. "I don't know if she's working today and-"

"One," he laughed. "I'll take that as a no. Two, she's definitely working today, no way was she trusting anyone else with the pool for Phoebe's birthday."

"Oh my God, she is?" Rachel asked, though by the way she was craning her neck she'd already found the girl in question.

"She's just so pretty, Neeks- shit! I think she saw me, quick, make it look like we're talking," she mumbled, waving her hands as she did when in a particularly heated conversation - she'd really commited to the charade, apparently.

"We are talking; it's a very fun and engaging conversation. Which you'd know, had you not been caught, I'm assuming, checking out one of my best friends' asses."

"I was _not_ ," she squawked, her cheeks pinking grandly. 

"Oh, sorry to assume - her back muscles, then," he drawled, leaning back on his hands.

"Oh, like you've never admired some good back muscles - _freshman year_ ringing any bells?"

"You said we'd never talk about that again!" he cried accusingly.

"And you- nevermind, oh, God, she's coming over. Do I have anything in my tee- _hey_ , Rara!" 

Nico watched in blatant amusement as Rachel's face shifted between three distinct expressions in a matter of seconds - anger, realization, frantic nervousness.

"Hey, Red - Nico."

"Reyna," he replied, tapping a lazy two-finger salute to the edge of his forehead.

"Been waiting on you and Percy to grace us - what've you been up to? I haven't seen you in weeks," Reyna said with a genuine smile, crossing her legs an dropping into a sitting position dangerously close to Rachel. 

Rachel seemed to be channeling all of her willpower into not combusting from where their knees knocked together, staying brutally silent for more moments than necessary.

"School and work are keeping me super busy," Rachel finally replied, biting at her lip in a tell-tale 'I'm avoiding the truth' move. 

"You've got to learn to take a break once in a while, Red," Reyna commented, either not picking up what was written blatantly across Rachel's face or being too polite to point it out. 

That seemed to pull Rachel from her flustered state. "Oh, you're a fine one to talk, Rey; remember, I'm the one who found you in the library after your twelve and a half hour study session."

"I'll give you that one, but I've since learned to _balance_ school and work and family time. Nico and I have dinner once a week, Jason and Piper and Frank and Hazel and I all rent a together movie once a month. Hey, maybe we could do something."

Rachel bit harder at corner of her lip. "Yeah, maybe."

"Reyna! Break's over!" 

Reyna exhaled deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers. "New management," she explained in a huff. "I gotta go, but I'll see you before you leave, yeah, Rach?"

"And I'm chopped liver," Nico commented.

"Of course," Rachel promised the woman in front of her as she covertly elbowed the man at her side.

"Bye," Reyna chirped as she turned away - speedwalking back to her station before her name could be called again.

"You're literally so fucking oblivious that it physically pains me," Nico grunted, hands bouncing in front of him for emphasis. 

"'Maybe we could get together and do something just the two of us, Rachel who I've been into for two years,'" Nico began in an eerie approximation of Reyna's voice. "'Well gee whiz, Reyna who I've been falling for since I met, I'm just not sure!'" he continued, this time inflicting something into his voice to call Rachel's to mind.

"She's not into me, Neeks," Rachel said with pursed lips. 

"Maybe if you'd take all that wool from over your eyes, it'd be clearer," he shot back.

"You got old and bossy," Rachel laughed, brushing his words away. 

Nico threw his hands in the air. "I _grew up_ and realized what I _wanted_ and what I _allowed_ myself to have didn't have to be two seperate things - there's a big difference."

Whatever retort she had died in her throat as his words sank in. She ducked her head in apology, a coil of hair escaping her hasty hairstyle and curving in front of her sharp eyes.

"Rach, you two have been my best friends for years - I just want you to be happy," he mumured, reaching out to pat her shoulder apologetically. "And I think," he added with a small smile. "You could do that together."

"If I'd just get my head out of my ass?" she supplied.

"Preferably," he laughed.

The thing was, she knew he was right. The other thing was that she hated to be wrong, so she was a bit unsure on how she felt on the subject as a whole.

She rubbed at her temples, pressing the pads of her thumbs against the taught skin to try to alleviate the tension migraine building in them. She needed a clear head for this.

Minutes passed, full of children hollering at the top of their lungs, of water splashing, of chaotic laughter. Finally, after a deep trip within her soul, Rachel's head popped back up as she inhaled deeply.

"All right, I just need-"

"Hey, Neeks," Percy's familiar voice came, hand coming into view only to scrub through Nico's hair.

"Perce, c'mon, man," Nico complained, swatting at Percy's hands. 

"Percy! Perfect!" Rachel yelped. "Where's your girlfriend?"

"Uh, about two steps behind me?" he replied. 

"What's up, Dare?" Annabeth asked, peeking her head around Percy's shoulder. Her pleasantly tanned face smiled at Rachel, blonde curls tugged into two braids hanging against her red ears.

"Pep talk!" Rachel sputtered, jumping up to grab her by the shoulders. "It's imperative, Chase."

Annabeth's eyes flew wide. "Why do you always spring these on me!" she exclaimed, taking Rachel's arms in her hands. 

"What angle am I going for here?" Annabeth asked, eyes tracking the ground back and forth as she sunk into thought.

"That I can do the thing I need to do,"

Annabeth nodded sagely as she lifted her eyes to meet Rachel's. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare, you're brave and you're strong and you've conquered far worse than whatever this might be. I've seen you power through some real shit, and so I know you can make it through anything. I believe in you, you hear me? 

"You're a godsend," Rachel grinned, kissing Annabeth's cheek excitedly before moving onto Percy. 

"I'm gonna need a hangout if you're free tonight," she said to him.

"You got it," he nodded, before whispering, "This feels oddly serious, should I be worried?"

"Make sure there's ice cream and I'll pay you back with interest," she replied instead, kissing his cheek too.

"You," she said, pointing at Nico. "What night do you two get together?"

"Thursday," he replied easily, before turning an appalled look on her. "You're not seriously-"

"Thanks for talking sense into me, love you!" she tittered, kissing the top of his head.

"This isn't what I meant," he hummed into his palms as she darted off - flashes of her green bathing suit and orange hair her only calling cards in the crowd.

As she approached the lifeguard's station, Rachel was sure she was going to throw up, but she'd already locked eyes with Reyna and she didn't want to make this any worse than it had to be.

"Dakota, cover for me?" Reyna mumbled before jogging over to Rachel.

"Hey, you- don't look so good, are you all right?" Reyna asked, resting a hand on Rachel's freckled shoulder and squeezing gently.

"I have to say something," Rachel informed her. "And my pep talk's wearing off."

Reyna's face pinched. "All right."

"I didn't mean to brush you off earlier - I didn't realize that's what I was doing in the first place, but Reyna, look, I- fuck. Reyna I like you. And I have for a long time and I'd really love to get dinner with you sometime, but I-"

"Oh, thank God." Reyna's shoulders sagged as a grin cracked across her face. "I thought I'd been too blunt this time and freaked you out."

"No, you could never- wait, this time?"

Reyna tugged on the end of her braid. "Yeah," she laughed. "I've kind of been trying to ask you out for a couple months."

"Nico's never going to let me live this down," Rachel groaned, hands flying to her forehead and hip respectively. 

"Probably not," Reyna agreed.

"Actual months?" Rachel asked.

"Do you remember right before that big art history test you had when you threw your flash cards at me?"

"Oh, my God!" Rachel cried. "Reyna, why didn't you say anything?"

"That's literally the whole point," she laughed. "I've been saying a lot, you just didn't hear me."

"Well I hear you now, loud and clear, and aside from being mortally embarrassed, I'm really liking what you're saying."

"Yeah?" Reyna asked, brushing back that pesky coil of hair in Rachel's eye so she could see her whole face. 

"Dinner, you and me, Saturday?" 

"It's a date."

**Author's Note:**

> rachel and nico would be such great friends why am i the only one who sees this
> 
> find me on tumblr @ desertrosetico !


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